Orangutans Threatened by Human Attacks

The Batu Mbelin Orangutan Quarantine and Rehabilitation Center has chronicled the dark journey of the Sumatran orangutan. At the center is a female orangutan that was shot 74 times as she tried to protect her baby.

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

An orangutan named Hope “looks” out of her enclosure on 11 July 2019 at the Batu Mbelin Orangutan Quarantine and Rehabilitation Station in Sibolangit district, Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra, which is managed by the Ekosistem Lestari Foundation-Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (YEL-SOCP). Hope has recovered physically after a four-month treatment for the critical injuries she suffered from being shot 74 times with an air rifle, but she remains traumatized because her baby was killed in the attack that left her blind.

The Batu Mbelin Orangutan Quarantine and Rehabilitation Center has chronicled the dark journey of the Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii).

At the center is a female orangutan that was shot 74 times as she tried to protect her baby. The orangutan was severely injured and blinded in the attack.

There is also an orphaned baby orangutan that was rescued from a cardboard box during an attempted smuggling from Dumai, Riau, to Malaysia; another orangutan has muscular problems after it was locked up in a small cage for several years. The pitiful condition of these animals is a result of habitat destruction, animal trafficking and the selfishness of human beings.

The weather was cool on Thursday’s visit to the Batu Mbelin orangutan rehabilitation center in Sibolangit district, Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra.

The center is beautiful, surrounded by shady trees on its hillside location. In one of quarantine cages, an orangutan named Hope sat looking pensive.

The manager of the rehabilitation center, Arista Ketaren, reminded visitors not to talk when approaching Hope\'s cage. However, Hope, who relies on her sense of hearing, still heard our steps, and immediately started circling inside the cage. "Hope is still very traumatized by human presence. She watched as a man shot at her body and eyes. Hope lost her baby to human cruelty," said Arista.

Hope, who is around 25 years old, illustrates the orangutans’ suffering from forest conversions. She and her month-old baby were found in critical condition on 10 March 2019 at a former oil palm plantation in the forest of Bunga Tanjung village in Sultan Daulat district, Subulussalam, Aceh. Hope survived. Her baby died from malnutrition.

The veterinary team from the Ekosistem Lestari Foundation (YEL)-Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (YEL-SOCP), which manages the Batu Mbelin rehabilitation center, worked hard to save Hope.

Hope’s X-ray showed 74 air rifle bullets in her body. Hope\'s shoulder bone was broken, and her neck had open wounds that were infected. Her hands and feet were injured, allegedly from dodos sawit, a metal palm cutter that resembles a scraper.

The veterinarian placed a steel pin in her shoulder bone. Ten bullets were surgically extracted from her body, but the rest were left inside her body because they were not fatal and additional surgery was deemed too risky. After receiving four months of treatment and therapy, Hope\'s physical condition improved.

"However, psychological trauma cannot be treated. She becomes stressed when she hears the cries of baby orangutans. She also suffers depression whenever she senses the presence of humans," said Arista.

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

An orangutan named Hope recuperates in her enclosure on 11 July 2019 at the Batu Mbelin Orangutan Quarantine and Rehabilitation Station in Sibolangit district, Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra, which is managed by the Ekosistem Lestari Foundation-Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Program (YEL-SOCP).

Hope is traumatized because she remembers her baby. Parent orangutans are individuals that love their young. The primates tend to their babies, teaching and raising them, and carrying their young in their arms for nearly eight years. Orangutans in the wild do not have another baby until their young become independent at around 8 years old.

"Hope protected her baby, even as she was bombarded by dozens of bullets," said Arista.

Baby orangutans

The rehabilitation center has several baby orangutans that should still be cared for in their mother\'s arms. Digo, a 2-month-old orangutan, was sleeping soundly in a basket in the room of one of the center’s nurses.

Digo and two other baby orangutans, Duma (1) and Dupa (1.5), were rescued on 25 June 2019 by a team of Indonesian Military (TNI) soldiers and officers of the Customs and Excise Directorate General during an attempt to smuggle them from Dumai, Riau, to Malaysia.

"The baby orangutans were kept in a box lined with cloth. [They] were very weak and dirty. A speedboat was waiting at the port to transport [them] to Malaysia," said Meuthya, a YEL-SOCP veterinarian.

Caring for baby orangutans is not easy. Veterinary doctors and nurses must take the place of their parents. Digo sleeps in a basket beside the nurse\'s bed so he can be fed milk every two hours, including at night.

Aside from Digo, there is Brenda (7 months). Brenda is a victim of land clearing in Blangpidie district, Southwest Aceh regency. It is believed that Brenda was fleeing poachers when local residents found her and brought her to the rehabilitation center. On examining her, it was found that one of her arms was broken, so a steel pin was inserted to set it. Brenda\'s condition is improving. Her teeth have come in.

Citra Kasih Nente, who supervises the YEL-SOCP rehabilitation and reintroduction program, said that orangutans continued to face intense environmental pressures due to the destruction of their habitat caused by forest conversion, encroachment and forest fires.

Poaching and illegal trade in orangutans still occurred due to high demand from individuals and the international wildlife trade.

"There are 54 orangutans currently being rehabilitated at the center. They come from various backgrounds. There are victims of trafficking, paching, habitat destruction, and some were confiscated from people who kept them [as pets],” said Citra.

Citra said that the Batu Mbelin rehabilitation center had rehabilitated 382 orangutans from 2001 to 2019.

The center’s orangutan rehabilitation program involves quarantine, health checks, treatment and care, socializing with other orangutans, forest schools, habituation and finally, release. The center has released 282 orangutans into the forests of Jambi and Aceh.

Citra said that Sumatran orangutans were still found in the wild in Aceh and North Sumatra in the Leuser Ecosystem. But the population had continued to decline and it was estimated that only around 13,700 orangutans now remain in the wild.

Meanwhile, the Tapanuli orangutans of the Batang Toru Ecosystem in Tapanuli have been identified as a separate species from the Sumatran orangutan. The current population of Tapanuli orangutans, which are at risk of extinction, is about 800.

At the center’s orangutan school, the primates learn how to live in the wild. They learn to climb, hang and move from one tree to another so they can survive back in their natural habitat. However, one thing that they might have difficulty learning is how to survive the threat of humans.